Imaging device suppliers often rely on consumables such as ink cartridges and other supplies as a considerable source of revenue and profit. Conventional business models for suppliers involve the sale of machines, such as printers, to consumers for a relatively low price, and the sale of the consumables, such as ink cartridges, to the consumers at a high profit margin. One reasoning behind the conventional model is that suppliers assume that consumers purchase consumables more often than the machines in which the consumables are used. That way, customers only pay once for the machine but recurrently pay for new consumables when depleted consumables need to be replaced.
Because of the high price and the low production cost of consumables, counterfeit versions of consumables can take away from the profits of legitimate suppliers. By manufacturing the consumables at about the same production cost as it takes the legitimate suppliers to manufacture, counterfeiters can sell consumables at a fraction of the price charged by suppliers and still remain profitable. Further, the counterfeiters can imitate the legitimate product by customizing the counterfeit consumables for use in various machines sold by various suppliers.
The Internet and other outlets can provide a marketplace for counterfeiters to sell and consumers to buy counterfeited products. Some consumers can be drawn to purchasing counterfeit consumables because of the lower price and because the quality can be at least serviceable. Other customers may not know that they are purchasing counterfeit products. Some counterfeiters manufacture products and market the products only slightly below the price of that of the legitimate suppliers' products in an attempt to pass off the counterfeit products as those of the genuine supplier. In these cases, not only do the counterfeit consumables impact the legitimate suppliers' profits, but the suppliers are also concerned that the lower quality of the counterfeit products can damage the suppliers' reputations.
As a result of counterfeit consumables entering the market, some legitimate suppliers are putting forth efforts to combat the problem. For example, some suppliers are forming teams of investigators to analyze suspect consumables and packaging, and take findings to law enforcement operations. However, this approach can be costly and unsuccessful. Further, the successful shutdown of one counterfeit operation may not deter other operations from originating or existing operations formulating more intricate operations.
A need, therefore, exists to implement systems and methods to replace existing delivery and use systems and methods associated with consumables. Further, it is desirable to implement systems and methods to provide or eliminate the incentives of counterfeiting operations.